Hog Futures Rally as Ham, Pork Demand Improves; Cattle Advance

The wholesale price of ham jumped 38 percent this year through yesterday, and pork is up 16 percent, heading for the biggest annual gains for both since 2009.

Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Hog futures jumped the most in a week on speculation that U.S. pork demand is improving. Cattle prices advanced.

The wholesale price of ham jumped 38 percent this year through yesterday, and pork is up 16 percent, heading for the biggest annual gains for both since 2009, U.S. Department of Agriculture data showed.

"Demand for pork has been exceedingly good," David Kruse, the president of CommStock Investments Inc. in Royal, Iowa, said in a telephone interview.

Hog futures for December settlement rose 1.3 percent to close at 88.575 cents a pound at 1 p.m. on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the biggest increase for the most-active contract since Oct. 15. Prices are up 13 percent from a year ago.

Cattle futures for December delivery climbed 0.8 percent to $1.32975 a pound on the CME. Wholesale-beef prices reached the highest since June 18.

Feeder-cattle futures for January settlement advanced 1 percent to $1.68025 a pound.

--Editors: Steve Stroth, Patrick McKiernan

To contact the reporter on this story: Dalton Barker in Chicago at dbarker40@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net